Former Comptroller and Auditor General official R P Singh clarified on Sunday that he had never claimed that Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi influenced the CAG team in calculating the 2G loss figure.

NEW DELHI: In a dramatic development on Sunday, former Comptroller and Auditor General official R P Singh clarified that he had never claimed that Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi influenced the CAG team in calculating Rs 1.76 lakh crore presumptive loss in the allocation of 2G spectrum licences.

Singh's retraction, who said he was misquoted by a newspaper, comes as a huge embarrassment to the government given how his purported disclosure led to the ruling Congress attributing political motives to the CAG arriving at a massive presumptive loss figure and the BJP accusing Singh of batting for the government.

The former CAG official also rejected the contention that the Congress had put him up to defend the government on the 2G report. Singh said he had no connection with the UPA nor did he have any interaction with it. "Whatever I have said is not politically motivated and (my conscience) is very clear on that account," he said.

Following Singh's purported disclosure earlier, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had spoken of a BJP conspiracy behind the 2G spectrum scam figures in what was a barely veiled attack on the CAG itself. "The auditor's statement has turned the tables on the BJP. The BJP stands exposed," she had said.

Singh, who as former DG audit (telecom) headed the team which prepared the CAG report on allocation of 2G spectrum licences, has been in the eye of a storm ever since he claimed that he never suggested the loss figure that went into final print. He said a draft report sent by him only mentioned a loss of Rs 2,600 crore.

The former CAG official was later quoted by a newspaper as claiming that the PAC chairman had taken undue interest in finalization of the report that finally mooted a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.

Congress ministers seized upon the charges against the PAC chairman to demand a debate with the chief auditor on this contradiction while some political parties sought a clarification from the PAC chief.

Singh, however, reiterated on Sunday that he was misquoted by the newspaper. "I said a member of PAC... It has misquoted me," he said. "This claim has been made in a newspaper report. I do remember that there is documentary statement where it is stated a member of PAC had asked to calculate loss using a particular formula. I cannot confirm the name, but I can confirm the content," Singh added while still maintaining that he was coerced into signing the final report.